


When In Rome

by MxCapa



Category: Original Work
Genre: AU, Depictions of Fighting, F/F, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Story - Freeform, Violence, mermaid au, nothing graphic but better to be safe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-08-13 04:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7962085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MxCapa/pseuds/MxCapa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Breeze is a normal girl, working for her normal uncle with her normal brother. It isn't until she meets a very unusual someone that things start to go haywire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> WOWEE I SURE AM.... REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS AAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
> I hope you enjoy reading!

“Hey, Breeze.”

Finger snapped in front of her eyes, causing her to blink and tumble backwards away from the glass she was staring into. She recognized the perpetrator near immediately, and promptly whipped around to stare at him, foot tapping on the ground.

“What do you want, Rory?” To anyone else, it would have sounded accusing, but she knew that to her twin, she simply sounded exasperated. He snorted and giggled, backing up with his hands up, finger splayed. 

“Oh, nothing! You were just zoning off again,” He grinned. She crossed her arms over her chest, unnatural red eyes squinting at him as he spoke. Between the two of them, there couldn’t _be_ more differences. She was polite, orderly, neat. He was a trickster, a bad pun maker, an uprising with a bat kigu. It didn’t help that they were born with almost the opposite physical looks. Rory had dark skin, black fluffy hair, brown eyes. Breeze, on the other hand, had unnaturally white skin and red eyes. Albinism. Because of this, she worked the night shift, and he stuck around during the day to help their uncle with his aquarium slash rehabilitation center. 

“It’s almost sunrise, so. You gotta get back home.” She caught the thrown parasol, and huffed at him as he pushed her towards the door. 

“I’m going, I’m going. You don’t have to push me, for pete’s sake, Ror’.” She walked to the nearby door, looking at him. “I’ll be here to relieve you of your shift tonight, alright?” Rory’s response was to look at her, and lean against the nearest glass containment chamber and drape a hand over his forehead. 

“I’m going to die, trapped here forever, if you don’t come tonight, my prince charming,” He slowly slid down to sit on the floor, ignoring his sister’s laughter. “You must come. You are my only hope, Obreeze One-Kenobi…”

“It’s Obi _Wan_ -Kenobi!” Breeze managed to sputter out through her laughter. Rory paused, blinking, losing the masquerade for a moment before he dramatically slid to lay on the floor. “Copyright infringement!” He yelled, tossing his head, arching his way off the floor as if someone was pulling him by a string upwards. Breeze doubled over with laughter before attempting to regain her posture and poise. 

“I’ll be back.” She chuckled, exiting the building before Rory could pull another stunt. It was late enough as is, she noted, having to already open her parasol as she walked out of the building. It was a pleasant enough walk home, they didn’t live far, and the building was right on the beach, quite literally. It was just the hill going up to their shore-side home that stuck with her, and she didn’t quite want to brave that yet. Her feet were already sore from standing all night, cleaning and watching the fish swim around. 

So she detoured. The road split, the left path heading up towards residencies, the right leading down to the beach. She took the right path, walking down that hill, groaning to herself halfway as she realized that that meant twice the hill climbing, and continued down to the beach. 

The sand was cold, but that’s how Breeze preferred it. The sun always irritated her skin, and the warmth of it was far too much sometimes to handle. She took off her shoes and socks, letting her feet slide into the sand, walking along the beach. It wasn’t until about halfway down the coast that she saw a vaguely human-esque figure covered in a net, halfway submerged in the coming waves. Her heart stopped dead in her chest as she saw it, and found that she was already running towards the figure, parasol forgotten and left by the wayside. However, before she could get too much closer, she saw that whatever it was, it most certainly wasn’t human, the unnatural pastel yellow scales with cyan bioluminescence visible beneath the rope. She skidded to a halt. 

“He-” She was cut off by a violent spasm from the creature, large sharp claws digging into the sand. It made a horrible yowl, clicking and hissing in a foreign tongue as red stained the sand below. She skittered backwards, falling onto her backside. What in the hell was this thing? She continued staring, looking down its body at its- suddenly visible- tail and back up. It’s gills were working, it’s cheek fins flared, and it’s eyes, bright yellow and horribly distrusting, stared back up at her. She could only swallow as she shook and moved backwards further as the creature bared its sharp, sharp teeth and growled.

What had she gotten into?


	2. The Pride And Joy Of The Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L-L's point of view of the situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post a picture of L-L and what she looks like as soon as I can! warning in this chapter for fighting and violence
> 
> (A Two-Tail is a human, just to confirm that.)

The sea was merciless and unforgiving. Life under the waves was hard and cruel, and to survive, you had to fight and be smart. You had to _win_ fights, you had to claim territory, and be able to keep it. And L-L was good at that. She was good at being aggressive, her parents were hybrids of aggressive types of Mer released into the sea, and so she was as good as they come in that regard. Being a mix between a Tiger shark and a Queen Triggerfish will do that to you. But she was pretty. Decorated with flashy scales that glowed, and a bright base color to match, with fancy lines. It was great for threat displays, warding off predators, attracting mates, but the Two-Tails adored it too. They caught attractive mer, shucked them of their skin and scales, grabbed Mer offspring from their nests and tore them limb from limb fighting with each other for the smallest scrap of scale.

That’s how L-L had gotten into this mess with Two-Tails in the first place. Mer were not solitary creatures, not by a long shot. Solitary meant death, an easy time getting caught by the Two-Tails. But no pod wanted her, not with her flashy scales and bioluminescence. It was attractive, but it also attracted the air-breathers like bleeding fish attracted sharks. She had been swimming to find a new hiding spot to rest when the net came. It overtook her like a heavy weighted fish when you surface, shocked her into freezing up. It wasn’t until she noticed the upwards movement did she start thrashing.

And thrash she did. Having been so still in the first few pulls, the Two-Tails weren’t expecting a sudden yank from the movement of her tail, and one was sent flying into the waves. Pity it hadn’t been storming. She felt the net sag, and begin pulling her downwards. Determined not to sink, she pushed herself upwards before she felt something _grab_ her through the net, and she whipped around, ready to fight, straight into the ready knife. 

It was a mariner's’ knife, no kid’s toy, and gave her a nasty gash along her chest, to which she vocalized her pain, blood clouding around them. She let herself go limp, let the Two-Tail think it had won before it swam over her, and she sunk her claws into it. Until it stopped flailing, there was no cease, and as it stilled, she bolted, gills working hard as the adrenaline halted and the pain set it. 

It wasn’t long before it was night, but as she looked around, she didn’t trust these waters. It was too close to anything Two-Tail made. But the only way out of this trap was backwards, and backwards meant dealing with more Two-Tails. She kept swimming. Until, that is, her tail practically stopped working, and she was slowly pushed onto a nearby shore. The sand covered her wound, and she hissed, laying still. Any movement would hurt, any breath she took ached. She simply wanted to rest.

But life was not having that. It was nearly two hours after she was run ashore that movement disturbed her rest. Something was gallivanting, it seemed, across the sand, and L-L could barely open her eyes, let alone move to get out of the way. But it stopped. It _stopped,_ and made a noise. Her eyes flashed open, and at the sight of the odd colored Two-Tail, she writhed in the net, cursing as the sand irritated her wound enough for it to bleed once more. 

And that’s where she was now. Because of those Two-Tails, now she was here with another one of their kind. It never ceased to _annoy_ her how they were seemingly everywhere. 

“Leave me alone!” She hissed, pleased as it stumbled backwards on its clumsy tails and fell, shaking. She wiggled once more, claws working the sand while she tried to move the net off of her body. Trying to hook her tail into the net, she faltered as she saw it _staring_ at her. She waited until it locked gazed with her, and snarled. It cowered, and she smiled, which only seemed to intimidate it further.

She couldn't help but wave her facial fins in clear aggravation, digging her claws into the sand and pulling herself forwards, giving a sharp inhale as most of her body was heaved out of the waves and onto the shore. She then rolled onto her back, as much as possible with her dorsal fin, and startled as she saw the air-breather above her. How it moved without her knowing was not only a shock, but a displeasure. She snarled, arms wrapping around herself in a protective display, the cyan blue bioluminescence flashing clearly, ‘back off’.

“You’re lucky this net is between us, Two-Tail, or your throat would be painting the sea _red_.” The practically white-scaled being hesitated, but moved forwards once more, ignoring the warning. It patted it’s body, making motions, moving its arms from its waist over its head. It took a few repetitions of this for L-L to know what it meant, and when she found out, she let out a hoarse clicking noise-- laughter. 

“You would set me free when I can easily kill you?” Slowly, almost carefully, L-L stretched a hand through the net, making sure her long claws and webbing were seen before faux swipping at the Two-Tail. It shivered in fear, swallowing, and kept its hands at its sides. Yet it didn't back away. 

Confusion set in, and L-L brought her hand back close to her body and promptly rose her tail up to slam it down on the surface of the water, making a loud noise and attempting to scare the Two-Tail. She could hear its breathing pick up pace, and she wriggled, trying to turn to get back in the sea. There was only so much idiocy one could take. 

Instead of let her go, the Two-Tail had an idea, it seemed. It make a loud noise, putting it web-less hands in a display in front of it, and moved towards her. Only the net stopped her teeth from sinking into flesh as she lurched forwards to bite it, only to find thick rope in her mouth instead. She growled as it advanced slowly.

This time it did not back off, instead grabbing the rope and pulling. It was easier to move out from inside the trap now that it wasn't moving with her body, and now that she was on her side and clawing her way out. After a few pulls and tugs, the net was off. L-L inhaled deeply, digging her clawed hands into the sand, spitting out her chunk of rope, which was now chewed to shreds, and turned her head to look in the Two-Tail’s direction. It was further away, knelt down, and it gave a small wave. 

There was a long, tense moment between the two of them, before L-L finally turned, clawing and dragging herself into the sea. The Two-Tail had helped her. It had _helped_ her. What? Confusion rang in her head like echolocation, she didn't understand. The water was a welcome embrace, refreshing her, but her limbs were exhausted. She stayed on the shore, halfway in and halfway out of the water, face shoved under the waves. At least she knew the ocean well enough to know what it would do when it receded.


	3. To Contemplate One's Findings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Breeze gets a bad idea.

The sun had started to irritate her skin by the time Breeze noticed she was staring. The sun was rising, and the more she thought about it, and stared at it, the creature had to be some sort of mermaid or _something_. She had heard about them, creatures that were intelligent, yet not human at all. Her uncle, who was a man well into his study of sea life, had never seen one before, but he talked about them all the time (he called them Mer, since they weren't quite like humans. Not really “maids”). Yet instead of him, here _she_ was, normal little Breeze, having had one just wash up on the shore!

And it shoved it's face straight into the sea and hadn’t moved from that spot once it was free from its net. 

She shuffled slightly, sighing. It hadn’t moved a single inch, it’s gills working at a significantly less _angry_ pace. She took this time to take in the dorsal fin and occasionally twitching tail, eyeing the being in front of her. Hm. No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t an _it_ , no. No living being was an it. But it _could_ be a she. Breeze nodded, mainly to herself, and made a mental note. _She_ was certainly a drama queen, even for a fish, the cyan lines and contrasting darker lines making for an interesting look. Even in the sunlight, the light bouncing off her scales didn’t make her obnoxious to look at, either. 

And she was staring again. Whoops.

Averting her gaze, she sighed, standing to retrieve her parasol. If she was going to babysit a fish, she might as well take care of herself. Walking over, picking up the now sandy umbrella, she turned to walk back, gasping in shock as she saw the creature, no, _her_ , the Mer sitting up in the water, tail underneath the waves now. There was a horrid wound on her chest, blood running down her front. She was working on picking flecks of sand out of the wound, and kept hissing, clicking to herself in that strange language. Clearly, she needed medical attention, not to just sit here and bleed out.

Flipping her iphone out, she dialed her brother’s number. He would know more about fish injuries than her. He was, after all, the one who wanted to take over their uncles aquarium. It took two rings before she heard someone pick up.

“Rory?” Biting her lip, she crossed her fingers and prayed that he hadn’t accidentally answered when he meant to decline.

“Yeah, sis? What’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be getting sleep so you can rescue me tonight, Prince Charming?” She sighed with relief, and laughed at the joke before swallowing nervously.

“What do you do for, ah, a uh, an injured. Fish?” She stammered out, watching as her company slowly dabbed at the wound with not-so-gentle touches. Breeze winced as more blood tainted the water’s coloration.

“What do you mean, like, a nearly dead fish? Or-?” Breeze’s heart thudded to a stop at the thought of the Mer washing up dead instead of alive, and she immediately countered, “No, no! No dead fish! No!”

She heard her brother give the smallest hint of a chuckle before he spoke up again. “Well, what kind of-” Breeze cut him off. “A gash along the uh,” She squinted at the Mer in front of her, wondering how to word this. “The side. The side of the fish.”

There was a long pause. “Breeze, that wasn’t what I was going to ask, but. Did you just find a fish laying on the beach?” She stopped. Dumb, stupid stupid stupid! He was probably going to ask what kind of fish it was! She covered her face with her hand, sighing deeply. That was as good a cover as any, however, and she took it.

“Maybe?” She saw the Mer look over at her distrustfully, almost willing her to take steps forwards so it could have a reason to use those claws against her. She swallowed, not quite forgetting the earlier attempted swipe. Breeze took a step back, and the Mer went back to preening herself.

“Breeze, you know what Uncle thinks of us bringing home strange and random fish.” The wording sparked an idea in Breeze’s mind, and she smiled, accidentally unnerving the Mer in front of her. She tilted her head down apologetically, hoping that that’s how the Mer would take the gesture. “That’s it! Thanks Rory!” She whispered excitedly into the phone.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” He managed to get out before she ended the call, putting the phone in her pocket. She walked over to the Mer, slowly and carefully, not wanted to panic her, which at this rate seemed like a lost cause, and smiled to herself. The Mer backed up, facial fins and cyan lights flaring in defense. Breeze couldn’t quite find it in herself to back up this time.

She was going to bring home a fish.


	4. Bridal Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L-L is certainly in for a surprise.

L-L didn’t like the way the Two-Tail was looking at her. In spite of all the aggressive warning signs she was putting off, it continued to stay near her, baring its teeth with a half open mouth. She was half tempted to swipe at it, but it _had_ helped her. There was no longer a justification for injuries to occur, and that soured the temptation right up. Instead, she moved further backwards into the water, squinting at it and growling.

It watched her move back, shoulders sagging, and then slowly rolled up its scales on its tails, revealing more white coloration instead of the deeper blue. Surprised, L-L couldn’t resist leaning forward to peer at it, vocalizing the curiosity with a trill. There were layers, first the white layer, then the, apparently moveable, second layer, the blue. She heard it make a noise above her, and it waded into the water with her, moving towards her with an arm outstretched. Instantly, she recoiled, forgetting about the strange moveable layer of scales in her attempt to move away.

“Don’t _touch_ me!” She ordered, batting the Two-Tail’s hands away with the back of her own. It looked almost hurt, before mumbling something in it’s own flatter, duller language, reaching out again. L-L’s patience was slowly thinning, and she hissed, moving backwards to be _just_ out of reach. It seemed like this got on the Two-Tail’s nerves, and it straightened, putting its shade-maker down on the sand with a frustrated exhalation of air. L-L smirked before it turned back, scowling at it. It made a noise, and out of spite, L-L mimicked it.

“Rrrhhhy.” She mimed, rolling her R sound on purpose, squinting. This seemed to shock the Two-Tail, and it repeated the sound, seeming to try to get her to do it again. L-L swore her face would freeze in a scowl, and she hissed, showing her displeasure by splashing the air-breather with water. This got a jolt of surprise out of it, arms raised to block the splash, and it huffed and waded towards L-L, motioning to her chest. 

She paused. 

Oh. Right. That. 

Reaching up, she gently scratched at the surrounding scales, looking up at the Two-Tail. It needed a name. If it was going to hang around, it needed something to be called by. She squinted at it, looking at it’s eyes, red as a sunset, it’s hair, down to it’s waist in a wrap and as white as it’s scales. Rhy. Rhy was the noise it made, so Rhy would be what it would be called. Rhy stepped forwards, batting L-L’s hands away from the wound, frowning. L-L hesitated to push it away. The frown didn’t look good, especially not when aimed at her. The peaceful neutral expression was far better. It sighed, pinching it’s nose bridge before rolling up the orange, baggy scale layer’s arms, revealing even more white. This distracted L-L just enough that she didn’t see it coming when she was hefted out of the water. She let out a horrified wail, nails digging into the shoulders of the Two-Tail, tensing enough for her facial fins to spread and smack Rhy in the cheek.

“Put me **_down!_** ” She cried, clinging to Rhy, whom, thankfully, seemed to have the intention of not dropping her. Rhy had the bravery to laugh, holding L-L a tad tighter as it started walking, ignoring the placed shade-bringer and fin covers that were also forgotten and discarded. The further and further from sea they got, the more nervous L-L became, making high pitched keening noises as they walked up the gentle hill back to the road. It was meant to call a pod, a family, to protect her, to help her with this problem that _clearly_ wasn’t going away, but seeing as she didn’t _have_ a pod, there was no one coming. This gnawed at her heart, the sad truth setting in more heavily than the previous time of realization. This caused her to still her movements, resting against the Two-Tail as it climbed, too involved in her own thoughts to care anymore where they were going. When they reached the top of the small slope, Rhy stopped, seemingly to catch it’s breath before turning the corner of green, heading up a much steeper hill. Higher off the ground. Further from the sea. L-L’s eyes went wide, and she dug her nails into Rhy’s back, clinging out of panic and terror.

“ ** _STOP!_** Put me back! _Put me back!_ ” L-L shouted, tail waving, eyes wide with panic. Rhy halted for only a moment to counterbalance the tail movement, and had L-L not been flailing, she might’ve been impressed. It looked at her worriedly, the labored breathing of the Mer the only thing audible for a solid few moments before trudging on forwards. L-L could not believe the stupidity she was witnessing. Did Rhy know nothing of body language, or language at all? Was she stuck with that dull and boring Two-Tail language? She leaned towards Rhy, pressing her chest against the Two-Tail’s, clinging to Rhy as she felt the heat from the black coral-esque thing beneath them. How Rhy’s bare scales against it didn’t cause it to scream, she might never know. Her breathing got worse as the sun beat down on them both, drying her out and making Rhy a tinge pink.

Thankfully, the walk was over much sooner than anticipated, Rhy walking up to a large statue of sorts, moving to the side of it and opening a rectangle with it’s hip. L-L promptly felt herself get dropped onto something very soft and very dry, and gave a small yelp of fear. The brown, soft material felt much like Rhy’s scales, and in that respect, was somewhat familiar. Not a good familiar though. She would kill Rhy for this, the anger setting in before anything else. This was a kidnapping! You don’t just _take_ Mer and bring them to random statue things!

Rhy gave a noise, moving items and things around before walking into another area, much more closed off than the open one they were in now. She shut the rectangle behind her, and L-L heard the noise of water splashing. She flared her facial fins, curiosity getting the better of her as she dug her nails into the soft material and pulled herself forwards. Now just to find out how to get to where Rhy was..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhy is L-L's nickname for Breeze.
> 
> What Breeze said was "Why are you like this", but only the 'Why' was audible to L-L. She misheard the 'wh' as an 'r' sound, and thus, 'Rhy'.


	5. Water Had Never Been A Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talk shit.  
> Get bit.

Breeze fiddled with the faucet, sighing. Her arms were killing her, her legs burned, but the Mer was in her home, and that was worth most of the aches. She would be well taken care of here, in her small, house-like room attached to the her uncle’s residency. It was an add on, built for her by her uncle when he found out she was coming to stay with him while attending online college. The house was too small for the three of them combined, she guessed. The add-on was comfortable, at least. A bedroom, a living room area with a tv, a bathroom with, thank God, a bathtub. She paused, testing the waters’ temperature, pulling back as it was too hot with a hiss, pursing her lips. She wondered, what did the Mer think of her home? She certainly had made a racket when Breeze was carrying her up the hill. 

Rattling at the door snapped her out of her contemplation, and she tensed. Was her uncle home already from his work trip out of town? Had he found the Mer? Was he coming to confront her? She hesitated before answering the knock, “Hello?”

“Rrrrrrrrhy.” Came the trilled reply, almost demanding in tone. Breeze straightened immediately, staring at the door in wonder and amazement. 

“Do you need something?” She slowly moved towards the door, listening to the scratching on the other end. There were clicks and purrs, trills and warbles before once again, “Rrrrrhy.” She paused before opening the door. 

The Mer was on the ground, blood leading from her couch to the door, seeming to have _dragged herself_ to the door. Supporting herself on her hands, she was staring at the tub, squinting at the water. Breeze winced at the thought of the carpet rubbing against her wound (and at the soon to be stains of blood on the carpet), and knelt down, getting eye level with the Mer. Her gaze snapped to meet Breeze’s, lips curling in distrust.

“Do you ne-” She barely got her sentence out before she was rudely shoved aside, the Mer pushing her to the floor only to crawl across the floor to the almost full bathtub, tail waving back and forth like a snakes’ to help her move forward. Fear set in in Breeze’s limbs, flooding her veins. She couldn’t afford to let the bathroom flood. “No, no, no, no, no!” Breeze called, fatigue taking over her as the Mer ignored her and hauled herself upwards onto the bathtubs’ edge. Breeze, against better thought, leaned forwards, grabbing the Mer’s waist and pulling her into a hug, and more important pulling her away from the tub, making sure her dorsal fin went in the space in between her body and arm as to not hurt it.

“You can't go in there! It’s too hot, and the water level is too high! You’ll flood the place!” She explained to the now furious and writhing being in her arms. She barely registered the furious clicking before pain was suddenly all she could think about, the Mer clamping its jaws down onto her forearm. She shrieked, releasing her hold on the Mer, feeling extremely stupid for not having rolled her hoodie’s sleeves down. Backing up as quickly as possible, her back slammed against the wall, holding her trembling arm close to her chest, her blood adding to the copious amount already staining her hoodie.

“What the _fuck_?!” She hissed to herself, gasping in pain and focusing on how bad the wound was instead of the sound of water splashing. It certainly wasn’t as bad as it _could_ have been, but it would leave a scar, blood spilling from the bite marks on her forearm. She stood, shakily, and walked over the the tub, shooting the Mer a glare as she turned off the water, quickly evacuating as the Mer began shouting, waving her tail like a baseball bat. She left the door open, quickly moving to the side and resting against the wall next to the door. 

Panting, she could hear the Mer clicking to herself, and she slowly slid down the wall, choking out small sobs as she felt the world dizzy around her. She was out before her body fell against the carpet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter title is a reference to Clipping.'s "Story 2".
> 
> DO SHIT GET BIT MOTHER HECKER.


	6. Brotherly Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rory tumbles into a situation he never expected to find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter aaaaAAAAAA   
> i hope the length makes up for it!!!!!

What brought Rory walking home before his shift was over wasn't worry for his sister. No, he wasn’t worried for his sister. She was definitely the more responsible of the two of them, she could take care of herself. It was the **fish**. A cut along the side of the fish deep enough to have Breeze _panic_ enough to _call him?_ Now **that** had him worried. So here he was, walking up the hill towards the house before his shift was over. Far before his shift was over. 

Their uncle was gonna kill him.

He opened the front door, looking around before closing the door behind him. No uncle in sight, no sign anything had been moved around either. But that also meant no sister. He frowned. Maybe she was down at the beach, still? He knew she loved those pre-morning walks, even if it wasn’t good for her. He glanced at the basket next to the door, and at seeing no parasol, sighed.

He shrugged his backpack off, letting it drop to its usual place next to the front door, beside the basket as he walked over to the kitchen. His stomach growled, and he instinctively went to the oven, clicking pre-heat. Rory set the pre-heat to four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Time to bake a pizza. He hummed, dancing his way over to the freezer, opening said container before a noise-- a splash?-- distracted him. He paused, raising an eyebrow, shutting the freezer. Now, he didn’t want to intrude, but he knew his sister. She didn’t take baths. Reminded her of the ocean, she said, and no matter how much she enjoyed water, the ocean was too vast. Maybe she just wanted to soak her feet after walking on the sand? But her parasol..

“Breeze?” He called, moving slowly out of the kitchen and to the door leading to Breeze’s extension. He was a little jealous that his sister had gotten an entire _house_ as a welcoming gift, but then again, he did get the entire upstairs, practically. Aside from their uncle's’ room and his office, the upstairs might as well be his. He didn’t want to room with his sister again for another four years anyway. 

Knocking, he paused, listening to more splashing and. Clicking? Was that clicking? What kinda ASMR stuff was Breeze playing? He leaned his ear against the door before he pulled back and knocked again. And was rewarded with one, very loud, hiss.

“ _Eugh!_ ” He startled, skittering backwards, lifting a leg in a side-kick-ready stance and holding his hands to his chest up in defense. Of course, it wasn’t really amartial arts position, he never took karate, it couldn’t _truly_ defend him, but it was a reflex at this point. When there was no sign of being followed through the door, Rory sighed. It must’ve been a wild animal. Breeze left her door open and a raccoon or something had gotten into her room. What a Breeze thing to do.

“I swear, Breeze, I’m slowly becoming the logic and reason of this duo,” Rory commented, sighing and giving a small chuckle as he relaxed his position. He pinched his nose bridge, inhaling deeply as he walked forwards and opened the door. “It’s almost sad--” 

He never finished his sentence. The first thing he spotted was blood, and it stopped his heart with an icy chill. On the couch it started, then it went to the ground, it looked as if someone had _dragged_ themself across the floor. His eyes followed the trail, and at the end of the trail was Breeze. If possible, she was paler than white, curled around her arms, one of which was freshly wounded and bleeding. Raccoon his ass, there was something bigger here. Coyote, maybe? Wolf at worst, hell even a bobcat could have done this, right? 

He ran forwards, powersliding across the floor to scoop his sister into his arms. He barely registered movement in his peripheral, ignoring it in favor of taking his jacket off to wrap around Breeze’s arm, applying pressure. It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do. She wasn’t conscious, but she was breathing, that was a start. He gently picked her up, moving her to the couch, adjusting her so she was resting on her arm. The continued pressure would be good, so he didn’t have to sit with her constantly and hold her arm. He didn't know if it was proper medical technique though, and worried his lower lip as he turned on his heels and stood, walking into the bathroom. He took about three steps before there was a familiar hiss, and he defensively jerked backwards, halting in the doorway, eyes locking with the source of the sound.

“Rhy.” Barked the, for lack of better term, _fish_ in the tub. He was paralyzed, staring at the yellow and cyan creature near floating in the tub. It had hair-like fins from its head, bright biolights that were near _blinding_ , and those eyes. But what caught his attention was the near gasping wound in its’ chest. He shivered, and took a step onto backwards, wincing as there was a wet _squish_ against his foot. The floor was wet, not flooded but wet, as he and his socks now knew. 

He looked down at his socks, and then at the tail-- there was a _tail,_ apparently-- which was lashing, and from his time spent with dogs, he knew that it was an agitated expression. He held his hands up slowly, crouching as he slowly looked up at the creature, whom was readily glaring back. 

“ **Rhy.** ” It snapped again, but louder, adding a soft growl at the end. It pointed towards the door, and then hoisted itself up and onto the ledge, leaning forward. It looked as if it was about to fall over, and Rory felt the temptation rise to help it as he saw blood running down its scales, tainting the bath water red.

“Hey, hey, stop moving, stop moving!” He whispered, eyes wide, looking from the wound to the creatures eyes and back once more, patting his chest. “Stop! You’ll injure yourself more!” He hoped to any god it was intelligent, or he’d look like a fool. However, it did stop, and look at him, and it’s expression went from angry to one of confusion. It looked baffled. He patted his chest once more, and slowly put his hand up in a clear ‘stop’ motion.

And to his surprise, the creature stopped. It opened and closed its mouth a few times, revealing scarily sharp teeth, before slowly shifting back into the tub, fins waving about. He moved slowly towards his primary goal-- the medicine cabinet-- as he watched the fish thing, unnerved to find it watching him too. He slowly stood from his crouched position and it hissed, but he couldn’t do anything about that. He had to get neosporin, bandages, other things. It was a raid, and while he had been seen he couldn’t run just yet.

Opening the cabinet he started collecting. The neosporin he put in his pants pocket, the gauze he held in his hands along with medical tape and other necessary items. He did a double check before closing the door to the cabinet again before he turned and promptly jumped as he saw the fish-person closer to him than before. It had moved to the side of the tub closest, and was simply _watching_ him. He slowly crouched down, and saw it’s facial fins flatten to the sides of its face. Assuming that wasn’t the best course of action, and that that reaction wasn’t great either, he quickly scuttled backwards towards the door as fast as he could, watching and gauging the creatures’ reaction. It was hard to read, but it seemed it wasn’t happy, but it wasn’t as angry anymore. And it wasn’t trying to get out of the water. Good. That would have to do, for now.

Maneuvering himself out of the door, he could hear Breeze awake and moving. He looked at the fish-creature, debating what the best course of action was, pausing and focusing. But reflex took over as he heard Breeze groan in pain, and he shut the door, immediately regretting the action as the furious hissing and clicking from the fish-thing became all he could hear. He stood, forcing himself backwards and towards Breeze.

“Breeze?” He called out, over the loud and angry spitting from the creature inside the bathroom. She sat on the couch, looking down remorsefully at his, now ruined and stained in blood, jacket. “Hey, don’t worry about that old thing, I-”

“It was fathers’.” Breeze quietly stated, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. Rory faltered, biting his own lip to keep himself quiet. After a while of near silence between them, he shifted, and Breeze looked up at him.

“It’s. ’S more important that you’re okay,” He stepped forwards, grabbing her hand gently and pulled it out so he could see the bite marks. His sister turned her head away, shaking her head. She said nothing as he examined the bite, but as he took some sanitary wipes over it, she sighed.

“Can’t believe I trusted that-” She gasped, looking at him, realization and fresh tears in her eyes, one tear halfway down her cheek. “Wait! Rory! You- You saw her, didn’t you? You had to have seen her, you got the medical supplies!”

He nearly choked, instead turning his head and gaze downwards to her arm, focusing on putting the neosporin on her arm. She sharply sucked air in through her teeth, and in that moment he was glad he was stronger than her, to keep her arm in place.

“Her? You mean that shark mongrel in your bathroom? What the gibberish _is_ that thing, anyway?” He muttered in response, internally regretting it as Breeze almost fluffed up in defense.

“ **She!** And _she_ is a Mer. From one of those old stories Uncle used to tell us, you remember them, yes?” He looked up at her for a moment, before looking down at her wound again, bandaging it up to the best of his ability. 

“Yeah, yeah, I remember. But _shit,_ Breeze, when I heard you say fish on the phone, I thought, oh yeah, maybe an Angelfish, or an Atlantic Blue Tang, not a _giant fish girl! _” He pouted, staring at Breeze’s now bandaged arm. He felt the worry from before settling in once more as the adrenaline wore off, and it wasn’t until he felt Breeze’s hand on his cheek rubbing something cool off of it did he realize he was crying. He hesitated before speaking, whispering, shaking his head. “I didn’t think you’d be the one I was patching up.”__

__Breeze gave a small noise in her throat, and hugged him, though it was a tad awkward with him kneeling on the floor and her sitting on the couch. She pulled back after a few seconds and moved over, patting the side of the couch next to her._ _

__“Well, now that you know of her, I might as well tell you how I got her here, yeah?” He looked at the couch, then at Breeze, sitting down and staring at the bathroom door. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be involved in this, but if Breeze had any chance of being injured again, he’d have to be in the loop. Their uncle would easily kill that thing for science, or keep it alive in a small containment unit to watch how it behaved. He looked at Breeze, sighing. She clearly cared for it, well, er. Her. A beep from the oven snapped him out of his stupor, and he blinked, sighing as he chuckled and shook his head._ _

__“..Fine. But make it short, my favorite movies on in twelve.”_ _


	7. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Rory to be filled in on what's been happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry about the wait hooooo my go d,,,,, i hope the chapters good enough to make it up to you guys!!!! chapter 8 is on the way too!!!

After Rory had gotten his pizza and settled down on the couch, Breeze began retelling the story of finding the Mer and bringing her into their home. She occasionally paused, listening to the sound of splashing made by the subject of their conversation inside the bathroom, giving small brokenly exasperated looks whenever the noise ‘Rhy’ would be heard. She had gotten up and gotten a bucket and rag to begun cleaning the blood stains on the carpet by the time she was finished the story, using her right arm, the arm that hadn’t been bitten, to make sure Rory wouldn’t scold her for anything.

“Y’do realize I’m gonna have t’take you to the hospital for that, yeh?” Her brother said through a mouthful of stuffed crust pizza, motioning to the stained jacket firmly duct taped around her arm. “Like, I thought it’d be your firsht thought. Hoshpital vishit. Sherioushly. You found shomethin’ human-ish in the shea, brought it home, and it bit you. We- oh, shorry, yeah, she. Whoopsh.” He backtracked at the scalding look Breeze gave him, and shook his head, swallowing. “ _She_ bit you. Badly.” He shook his head, looking down at Breeze. “We still gotta figure out an alibi for that, too..” Sighing, Rory put his hand on his thigh, the other one gesturing as his talked. “Listen. You forgot your shoes and your parasol at the ocean, you brought home a weird fish girl and you got hurt real bad, but now we’ve gotta take care of her. Frankly, I don’t think she’s gonna be nice to either of us, so we _both_ have a chance of being hurt, and for your side, hurt again. Regardless, we need to take care of her. You haven’t even gotten the water adjusted to her natural habitat, which I assume is salt water--” 

“Rory, don’t scold me, I’m not good at fish, or, or aquariums, I’m not good at making sure things are healthy, that’s _your_ job!” Breeze cut in, keeping her gaze firmly tied to the floor. “You’re good at that. That’s **your** thing. Not mine. It was never mine. You were raised with father, you lived near the sea, you grew up with this life while I was in _Britain_ with mother!” She paused, biting her lip to keep herself from further ranting. Then shes slowly relaxed her hands, which were tightening into fists, and inhaled deeply. Soon after, she exhaled shakily, and continued a few seconds later. “So just. Stop.” Fidgeting with the dirty cloth in her hand, she continued scrubbing the carpet with it for a few more seconds before throwing it in the nearby bucket. There was a few seconds of silence as tears began to well up in Breeze’s eyes before a piece of pizza was pushed into her sight. Looking up, she saw Rory, holding a slice of his favorite stuffed crust piece almost in her face.

“Is this your form of an apology?” She laughed out somberly, using her good arm to wipe at her eyes before taking the pizza gingerly from Rory’s hands.

“Aha, well, it’s better than nothing, right sis? I was being kind of a jerk.” He gave a relaxed lopsided smile as she bit into the pizza, standing up, wiping crumbs off of his pants with one hand while grabbing the now-empty plate with his other. While he walked off, probably to put the dish in the sink, Breeze slowly stood, getting her wits and emotions together. It was only after she gathered herself that she heard the water splashing again. Apparently the Mer was still making a commotion. Biting her lip again, she walked over to the door, leaning her head against it, listening. There was muffled water splashing, clicking and trills, nothing out of the ordinary. Breeze decided it best to leave her alone, locking the door after pulling away.

“So, time to go yet?” Rory said suddenly, causing Breeze to jump and shriek. The noises inside the bathroom became more violent, hisses and words that were _definitely_ meant to be curses coming through the closed and locked door. Rory broke down laughing, hunching over, both hands on his knees, and Breeze was tempted to tap him on the head.

“Well, I never! Scaring me while I’m injured! I cannot believe you!” She said, huffing, stomping as she made her way to the front door. Rory followed, lagging behind as he began to catch his breath. She paused at the door, looking down at the mat next to it, sighing. Right. No shoes.

“Hey, all the better to say it’s an emergency and that we came as quickly as we could, right?” Rory nudged her with his arm before straightening himself, his voice lowering into one of mock innocence. “No, there was no talking about mermaids _here,_ sir and or madam!” It was Breeze’s turn to laugh, giving a small giggle at her brother’s acting. 

“Shut up and get in the car. We’ll figure out what to say on the way.” Breeze said, considerably more relaxed, holding her wrapped arm in her other one. Rory immediately stiffened, laughing nervously.

“Right. About that. The car’s still at the aquarium. I didn’t, uh, take it home. I walked.” Breezed stiffened. Walked. In the sunlight. Like he could afford to. She turned to her embarrassed sibling, his hands held up in surrender. Oh, she could _not_ believe they were related sometimes.

“Rory!!”


End file.
